The one born in St.Helens in 1961.
Ormskirk Street, St.Helens, Merseyside 1978. Building site for the Nat West Bank.
Wearing a long coat, a head scarf and with a plastic bag in hand a lady makes her way across the road.
In photography it’s easy to glamorise, to photograph the extra ordinary. It’s harder to document the ordinary.
In the gloom and the cold I found a kind of beauty.
I never got into rugby myself but was fortunate to miss games periods to do photography. A side effect was to become the sports teams photographer for the school. All the moneys from the sale of prints went back into buying film, chemicals and paper.
So greatful to the teachers who had the patience to help me understand mathematics. I won a school prize in the 5th form, £5 towards a book, I chose the focal encyclapedia of photography. A little certificate was pasted into the front of the book, the award was for “Progress”. I went from being very poor to mediocrity – a huge improvement! If I had not gone to Cowley school I would have totally failed academically.
1979. Most of the Chimneys at Pilkington Glass Works in St.Helens were the original Brick ones built in Victorian times. When I was born Queen Victoria had only been dead 60 years. Time moved slower in the North of England and the change from Victorian times was slow. Growing up in a house with a few rooms and an outside toilet was normal. Dad got better jobs in the early 1970s so we moved into a house with a bathroom.
Atherton Street, St.Helens. 1979.
I took this during an exchange visit in 1979. Musicians and choir from the Fanny Leicht Gymnasium in Stuttgart were visting Cowley school and they were all staying with local families.
I was walking with a large group of the visiting pupils into the town centre; they were due to meet the Mayor. The Germans were non plussed by the tiny houses and how old they were, a bit of a culture shock for them it seemed.
I had some nice chats with this chap about photography. I may of had a Pentax K1000 camera by then (or might still have had my Zenith E). His camera was more impressive! It would be lovely to get back in touch if he ever sees this. stephen@copyrightimage.co.uk
I dont show all my images here, some have meaning only for a small group of people.
Last week I was looking through some old pictures from my time at Cowley School in St.Helens and came across this picture of two fellow pupils enjoying a tea break in the sixth form centre. Not the best picture in the world but I was struck by the beautiful smile of the girl on the left. Her name is Jean Evans. Jean also went to my primary school.
I posted the picture onto the Old Cowleans facebook page for other to see and within an hour had a reply from someone who had the same day heard from Jeans husband of her death.
The news made me sad of course. The coincidence was striking. It had been a busy day and I should have been on a screen break, instead I looked through my old images and this one stood out and I wanted to share it.
I have not talked to or seen Jean for 43 years but in my mind I could have taken this picture yesterday.
Thank you for your lovely smile Jean.
View down Victoria Park from the North Road , Rutland street entrance (St.Marks Gate).
Rare 35mm colour transparency, Mid 1970s. Zenit E camera 58mm Helios 44 lens.
I was keen to study Photography after school and Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham offered a three year course in visual communications photography and film.
I turned up for an interview there with a very small portfolio of images, I was still at school and in retrospect should have done a foundation course at the local art collage before even trying there.
Euan Duff the course leader at Trent was a little hum and ha’ry about things till I showed him these slides and how I talked about documenting ordinary things around me. This was exactly the button to push with Euan (I found out afterwards) as he had undergone a journey of documenting the everyday since the 1950s.
A game of monopoly at Cowley sixth form centre became my chance to advance to Trent. When I told the Polytechnic I had only achieved one A level instead of the two required to join the course I was told to “Come anyway” a “get out of jail card” for me,, sometimes the dice are lucky.